The Ashes: Hopes are fading Fawad Ahmed will make his Test debut this series

ANY hope Fawad Ahmed had of making a landmark debut this Ashes series faded considerably during a forgettable outing for the leg-spinner in Australia’s opening tour match.

CANTERBURY, ENGLAND - JUNE 28: Fawad Ahmed of Australia bowls during day four of the tour match between Kent and Australia at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence on June 28, 2015 in Canterbury, England. (Photo by Julian Herbert/Getty Images)

ANY hope Fawad Ahmed had of making a landmark debut this Ashes series faded considerably during a forgettable outing for the leg-spinner in Australia’s opening tour match.

The challenge now for Ahmed might be to convince selectors he’d be up to Test level when the spin-friendly tour of Bangladesh rolls around in October.

Kent’s second division county battlers feasted on the Victorian at 8.22 an over on a final day where there was an expectation he sustain pressure around the bat and march Australia swiftly to victory.

Teammates find Ahmed unplayable in the nets at times and his Sheffield Shield statistics were outstanding last season, but there is a lingering feeling from many in the game that he is a player struggling to find another level when it gets to the crunch and Test representation is on the line.

Tremendous support exists for Ahmed however, not the least from selectors who backed him for such a big tour in the first place and from one of Australia’s great leg-spinner’s Stuart MacGill, who believes there should be plenty of international opportunities ahead for Ahmed even if he doesn’t crack it during the Ashes.

Over 200 Test wickets couldn’t buy MacGill an Ashes cap in England, with Shane Warne always relied upon as the sole spinner.

MacGill says selectors would be foolish to completely shut the door on playing Ahmed alongside Nathan Lyon on the spin-friendly Edgbaston pitch for the third Test, but he encouraged the 33-year-old to “hang in” with Bangladesh and trips to Sri Lanka and India on the horizon.

“His opportunities don’t end in August,” says MacGill.

“He has worked and travelled and fought and endured for a very, very long time to get to where he is right now.

“I’d love to see him play a Test match on this tour and help Australia win a Test alongside Nathan Lyon, but there is absolutely no reason for him to think that this is the one and only opportunity, and I know he won’t.

“I always used to remind myself when I was in situations like this – all you need to do is to recognise you’re on an Ashes tour to England in 2015 and think about the guys that missed out on that tour.

“Think of the guys who missed out on your state team and then your club team.

“Fawad is very aware of all that. He puts everything in perspective.”

The last time Australia played a Test in Bangladesh back in 2006, they played three spinners, with Dan Cullen joining Warne and MacGill.

The timing of the Bangladesh tour in between a sapping Ashes series and a six-Test home summer could mean Australia’s superstar pace attack may not be out in full force on notoriously tiresome pitches.

As the second spinner on an Ashes tour, Ahmed must be in the box seat to make his much-anticipated debut alongside Nathan Lyon in Bangladesh.

However, he needs to be careful not to bowl himself out of an opportunity.

Ahmed was Australia’s most expensive first innings bowler against Kent, and was taken to so badly in the second that part-timer Steve Smith had to be turned to as Australia looked to close out their 255-run victory in the final session.

The Pakistan-born asylum seeker could get another run in the tour match preceding the third Test, and MacGill said despite the odds stacked against Ahmed, selectors should be aware of the unique turning conditions in Birmingham.

“The ball turns a long way there. It’s like a clay and it turns properly big,” he said.

“In ’05 Warnie got 10 wickets there and that was after England made 400 on day one.

“I would never stop singing the praises of the Australian selectors if they picked him at Edgbaston … I would have killed to play there with Warnie.

“Fawad Ahmed would be a serious handful at Edgbaston.”

Originally published as The Ashes: Hopes are fading Fawad Ahmed will make his Test debut this series